BJP Rajya Sabha member Prabhat Jha has threatened on Monday to move breach of privilege notice in the House against two Income Tax officials for levelling ‘baseless’ charge against him.
Apparently upset with the allegation of the IT officials that the BJP leader was paid by a mining baron for his many flights, Jha said the IT department had ‘leaked’ this ‘wrong’ information at the behest of UPA Government to malign the image of BJP.
In a letter sent to Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, he complained about the conduct of the two officials and sought action against them. “Firstly, this report is completely baseless. It was published so that a BJP MP and party’s vice-president gets a bad name,” Jha said.
Insisting that as an Member of Parliament he was entitled to 38 free air tickets every year and he still had quota of around 40-50 tickets left, Jha said that this wrong information about ‘sponsored tickets’ had been leaked by the IT department at the behest of the UPA Government to malign the BJP.
“There is a request to you that as we consider this a matter of breach of privilege of the MP and of Parliament, when we give a breach of privilege notice against the two officials to the Chairperson of the House for our protection, you stand as a protector,” Jha said in his letter to the FM.
The law maker said he wanted to personally meet him to share some ‘important’ information about the two officials.
Media reported on Sunday that a mining baron from Madhya Pradesh had paid for the air tickets of Jha and RSS joint general secretary Suresh Soni for several flights over a period of time. Two Income Tax officials who were part of the team that raided the businessman for IT violations reportedly shared this information with the media.
Jha also raised several questions in his letter to Chidambaram and sought to know if the Income Tax department has the right to defame an MP or a citizen, whether if a paper with a coded message is recovered from some businessman’s house, then on its basis, information can be leaked to the media. “I am deeply hurt by this event. You are requested to take action against the two officials,” Jha said.